It's tough to be stuck at home with no work, but it gets a little better if you look at this as an opportunity to become a better technician. Here are 18 ways to use time well and come out on the other end of a pandemic a more organized and competent tech.
1. Clean out your home-service tool bag. Take everything out, throw away the little bits of felt and pieces of string floating around, give it a solid vacuum, and then reorganize the tools you put back in making sure each one has a designated place.
2. Refill your liquids. Don't wait until you're out in the field on your last drop of protek! Make sure your glues are fresh, cleaning and polishing stock is filled, and lubricants are topped off.
3. Work on your website. There's ALWAYS a way to make it better. Update graphics, photos, and verbiage to make sure your site is coming up on search engines.
4. Catch up on reading your favorite Journal series that you haven't had time for in the past six months...
5. Deep clean and detail your car! This is always on the bottom of my list when I've been out on a long day of tuning, but you'd be surprised at how your quality of life increases when you ride around in a clean car with no protein bar wrappers and old receipts flying around when you roll down the windows!
6. Go through the pile of old tools laying in your shop. Which ones should be thrown out, and which could you pass on to a starving new technician who is building up a toolbox?
7. Put together a chapter technical presentation so that the next time your president calls you up for ideas you can be ready.
8. Practice string splicing. You don't need a piano to work on knots, and if you get comfortable with it now, you'll be far less frazzled when you need it in the field!
9. Practice setting an aural temperament on your home piano and then tune it. It's probably been years since that thing got any attention...
10. Write up the TTT or Journal article you've had on your mind but didn't have time to pursue.
11. Organize your punchings box that has been completely scrambled after one too many sharp turns in the car. Find a new box that will keep them separated permanently so you never have to sort it again.
12. Clean out your client contact list and make sure you have a plan for rescheduling the March appointments that were canceled so that you don't get overwhelmed when it's time to go back to work.
13. Read the piano books that you've had stacked up on your bookcase.
14. Learn about the latest products from piano manufacturers. What are the differences between a Kawai GL and an RX?
15. Change the bag in your portable vacuum cleaner. It's probably the reason your vacuum is overheating and making a shrill whistling sound.
16. Make a better system for taxes. Are you familiar with Quickbooks?
17. Become a Dammp-Chaser installer by taking their online test and add that skill to your website.
18. Start practicing for the RPT technical exam. You probably have most of the material laying around already, and preparing for the time allotments will make you a more competent technician in the field.
How are you passing the time? Post your ideas here!
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Hannah Beckett
Reston VA
910-231-3595
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